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Nanami Momozono
Nanami Momozono (桃園 奈々生) is the main character of the manga series Kamisama Hajimemashita, the human land god of Mikage shrine. We join Nanami shortly after her father abandons her, skipping town to avoid his gambling debts and warning her not to look for him. She is evicted from their apartment as a result and finds herself alone, friendless and homeless on a nearby park bench. While considering what to do, she hears a commotion a short distance away. A strange man in a trench coat and glasses is up a tree and calling desperately for help, as he is seemingly terrified of a stray dog that is barking at him. Nanami comes to the rescue, and after the man thanks her she ends up pouring out to him her whole sad story. He weeps upon hearing it as he, like her father, had abandoned his home and those special to him many years before, and is convinced his family members must hate him as a result. He offers to give her his home to live in, saying it would be a weight off of his mind if she would look after it. Before Nanami has a chance to object, he plants a kiss on her forehead, hands her a crudely sketched map, and is gone. With nothing to lose, Nanami follows the map but is dismayed to find nothing but a run-down shrine at its end. Furious at having being tricked by yet another deceitful adult, she turns to storm away. She is stopped in her tracks by ghostly voices calling to her. Two will o' wisp shrine spirits and a crotchety fox yokai materialize before her eyes. The will o' wisps welcome her as a land god they call Mikage, while the yokai furiously attacks her, also believing her to be his long-absent master. The yokai, named Tomoe, stops short when he realizes it is not Mikage that has returned at all, but a powerless human girl that inexplicably bears the land god's mark. Furious at the idea that a powerful yokai such as himself would be expected to serve such a weak and helpless creature, Tomoe storms off to the land "over yonder", a shadowy plane set aside for yokai kind, sandwiched between the human world and the afterlife. Nanami's adventures as she journeys to this demonic plane to get Tomoe back, along with her continued efforts to live up to her new godhood and gain her reticent shinshi's approval, are the cornerstone of her continuing story. Past/History After the death of her mother, by some unknown disease, Nanami became responsible for the house and tried to keep her irresponsible dad in check. Nanami is a girl of sixteen, after her mother's death by disease, was responsible for the house and controlling her irresponsible father. For years her father was addicted to gambling and betting, which more than once made the girl suffer. With its small economy, the food she has prepared for school, studied hard and even endured being bothered by their economic situation by some of her class mates, as Isobe , for years. One day her father left a huge debt and flees home. Immediately after he flees, Nanami is evicted and is left in the street with a couple of suitcases in tow. Nanami could not remember what her mother, Kumimi, looked like. When Tomoe, Mizuki and Nanami paid a visit to the shrine of their own passages, Nanami enters hers first and Tomoe and Mizuki witness her past. As a child, Nanami was deeply affected and influenced by her mother. Nanami listened when she told her to "never trust papa, never tell him where the money is even if he begs you", and "grow up and be as healthy as mama, grow up and become an adult on your own". After seeing her memories for a while, Mizuki and Tomoe decide to enter there in order to get back her. Unfortunately, Nanami doesn't realize who Mizuki or Tomoe are, since she hasn't yet become a land god, and instead of going with the two willingly, she believes Mizuki is a pedophile, and decides to run away from him. Eventually Tomoe is able to get her to trust him (by volunteering to help her "run away from the pedophile"), and he is able to return her safely though her memories, thus returning her to her normal age. As a child, Nanami learned that she couldn't rely on men or "Husband" and that growing up and living alone as an adult was best. This was mainly due to her mother's influence which resulted in Nanami getting her independent nature from her mother. Growing up, instead of using "I" when addressing herself, she would say her name and would constantly say "want" or "don't want" in her sentences. She had a habit of running around in circles, even when being chased by a "pedophile" which in this case was Mizuki. Her keen trait as a child was her always saying that she would not fall in love and get married. (Which is something that she shares in common with Tomoe). However she stated that if Tomoe really likes her and propose her than she would say yes. The ironic thing is that when he did ask her in her younger form, she agreed without hesitation even though she didn't know him at the time. After meeting one of the 12 Zodiac animals, the Dragon, they realize that is lost. Once they reunite him with the new New Year god in charge of the shine, he gives a picture of her mother (all of the pictures of her mother were burned in a fire because her dad forgot to put out a cigarette, which caused the apartment to catch on fire) as a token of gratitude for reuniting him with his dragon. Nanami and her mother have a striking resemblance. Her mother seems to have lighter hair than Nanami, but their smile and eyes are both very similar. Nanami's dark hair could have come from her father's side of the family. Note: In the flashback of Nanami's memories about her mother, her mother stated that for generations her family has picked the worst men. She also states that her family can only give birth to a single healthy baby girl, because her family ancestor drank from a "divine spring", which turned her into a beautiful girl. In VIZ translation the cause was slightly different, as it was a god who gave a medicine to Nanami's ancestor who drank it and became beautiful. '' The first time Nanami travels back in time using Mizuki's "time-travel incense burner", Nanami's soul is implanted into Yukiji's, Tomoe's former love-interest, body. She witnesses Tomoe's savage behavior towards humans and is almost hurt by this behavior herself. However, she fights back by biting his finger and escapes. Her act of courage makes Tomoe fall in love with her, even before they meet in the future. The second time Nanami travels to past to find Dragon King's eye and get it back to save Tomoe. She travels in flesh for the first time and met Tomoe who didn't recognized her and left with the eye. After she followed him she finds him with a woman who was Yukiji, she was shocked by Tomoe's affection for her. When Tomoe left, instead of taking the eye Nanami helped Yukiji swallow it. Next time Nanami travels to past to meet the fallen God who made the contract with Tomoe and to find a way to save him. She ended up in a village where she was mistaken for a demon but was rescued by Yukiji soon and stayed in her home. When Tomoe was being chased by the villagers, he expected Yukiji to save him as she was his former love, but she refused and declared 'all demons should die' hatefully. Nanami helplessly ran out to look for Tomoe, and finds him badly injured in his child form. She took him back and lied to Yukiji about him being from her village, and begged Yukiji to help her save him. She later looks for the peach pill desperately which was washed away in the river and fed them to Tomoe. After when Tomoe started to get better, she took care him at night when he would be asleep and hid from him. When Tomoe asked Futa who saved him, he said it was Yukiji as Nanami requested him not to tell Tomoe about her. This is when Tomoe started to think of Nanami as Yukiji. The fourth time Nanami travels into the past is when she returns from healing her body from time travel. Then she meets Akura-ou who made her travel with him into the capital. But when she sees him killing robbers, she runs away in tears. Then she meets Yukiji and later decides to become her substitute bride in her wedding. Then during the wedding procession she was targeted by Akura-ou as he was after Yukiji and sent Kirakaburi after her, but Nanami was rescued and kidnapped by Tomoe. There, Nanami, as Yukiji, promises to be Tomoe's wife and he takes her back to the lord's house where Yukiji sees them together. The fifth time is when Nanami travels back to Ontake Mountain and sees Kuromaro and he tells her of how he had meet Tomoe, and of Yukiji's death, confirming that The Present was already set in motion. Kuromaro than shows Nanami of what happened when she was gone, showing her what had happened in the 8 years she was gone. She saw Yukiji, who she was living happily with her husband and expecting a child, until Akura-ou raided the place, killing everyone as Tomoe shows up to find Yukiji as she pleads for help. And she watches Akura-ou and Tomoe's falling out, as well as Kuromaro informing her of the relation between Yukiji and herself after her child is born while having the Dragon King's eye inside of her. She then learns of how to break the curse and of Kuromaro's true motives for wanting to his fate to be the way it was. She leaves to go back to the past, however she goes the wrong way and arrives to the Mikage shirne 20 years ago before Mikage leaves and meet him. Personality Plucky and determined, Nanami is not one to give up when the chips are down. Though her bestowed title of land god gets her into hot water far more often than it gets her out of it, her wit, resourcefulness and tenacity (along with a little help from her friends) ensures things always turn out well in the end. She is fiercely protective of those she loves. Her optimistic, kind-hearted nature drives her to do what she can to help those in trouble, much to the irritation of Tomoe, her white fox familiar. Her idealistic belief that humans and yokai can live and love together in peace is a constant source of contention between Nanami and Tomoe, who believes such ideas are human-centric and foolish. Partly out of a stubborn drive to change Tomoe's mind but mostly out of her earnest desire to help others, she orchestrated and continues to support the love affair between Himemiko (a catfish yokai) and Kotarou (a human boy). The Tengu of Kurama Mountain hold Nanami in adoration, caling her "Tennin" or "Celestial Maiden" / "Fairy". With her help the Tengu's beloved (and long dormant) thousand-year-old sakura tree was able to bloom once again. As a result, the Tengu children call her "elder sister" and describe her as being beautiful and warm. Appearance Nanami has long, light brown hair, brown eyes, rosy cheeks, and fair, clear skin. While very pretty, she seems to be oddly overlooked by the human boys at her school, even while simultaneously capturing the hearts and attentions of every supernatural creature she comes in contact with. She is normally seen in her school uniform, but also occasionally wears dresses, blouses and pants, kimonos and formal wear. A true "diamond in the rough", her grace, charm, inner and outer beauty draw the eye of demon and human alike when she is dressed exquisitely. Personality As noted by Tomoe, although Nanami appears to be a weak human, her spirit is strong. Because of this spirit, Nanami tends to land herself in a lot of trouble without even trying. She also tends to have a lot of courage (though she can be a hothead at times), and tends to stand up for herself and others. She also doesn't give up, and is very "stubborn" as shown when she didn't beg Tomoe to save her, even though she was hanging on for her life up in a tall tree. Even though she is human, she will do whatever she can to help those she cares for and those in need. Since she is human, she has "feelings" that yokai and immortal Gods don't understand, which makes her one of the strongest characters in the show, (even though she sometimes has problems believing in herself and her abilities). Nanami has a kind, gentle, understanding, and caring heart for those around her, even if they are "bad" people or Yokai. She often cries when things get to hard or when someone is hurt or in pain, and it has been noted that her crying face has had its effect on humans and Yokai alike, who don't like it when she cries or is upset. She is able to change people with his great determination and kindness, making them just the right way and helping them with their problems. And also can be changed and determined by those around her too. As noted by almost everyone she has ever met, she doesn't have proper behavior, she can be a busy body, and is a bit tomboyish, and she also has the habit of promising things without thinking through (Which makes Tomoe and Kurama scared when she gets ideas.) She also tends to think "Outside the box" and comes up with the weirdest ideas. Even though she is human, she has good body strength, as seen when she raised up a heavy clam shell that Tomoe had hidden under in order to talk to him face to face, resulting him being shocked and a bit afraid. She will often get into other's faces when they do something that she doesn't feel is right, and she'll grab them by the collar of their shirts or kimonos, if she is angered enough at their actions. She has been known to hit others when angered. She hit Tomoe on the back of the head with her purse and slapping Mizuki when he kissed her while she slept. Overall, Nanami is the type of person that would like to see others happy and will go out of her way to make them that way, even if it means that she has to get hurt or sacrifice something to make it so. One of Nanami's most distinguishing traits is her belief that yokai and humans can truly love each other. She goes out of her way and states this whenever she gets the chance or whenever Tomoe or anyone else responds negatively on the subject. She has stated that she will never get married (like she promised her mother), but in chapter 62 when Tomoe proposes to a child Nanami in her past, she agrees to it. Nanami currently does not remember doing this. When Nanami gets her soul implanted in Yukiji's body, she witnesses Tomoe's hate and disgust for humanity. Even thought she was frightened, she still fought against him, by biting his finger. Once she managed to escape, and when back into her own time, Nanami grew frightened when Tomoe reach to touch her. Instead of him hurting her like she thought, he only touched her forehead for her temperature. She then began to cry, happy that she got the Tomoe she knew back. "I'm glad this is the Tomoe that I know." She accepts Tomoe's nature and how he was in the past. But knows that he is different and won't do anything to hurt her and doesn't harbor any ill feelings for what he almost did to her in the past when she was in Yukiji's body. She knows that he is different now and that is all that matters to her. This is an example of her forgiving nature. She will forgive anyone who has ever hurt no matter how bad it is. Relationships Mikage Mikage was the previous land god of Mikage shrine, and the one responsible for making Nanami a human god. Twenty years before the start of the series, Mikage went on a journey in the hopes to find a cure that will break Tomoe's curse markings. With no luck, he decided to head back, but he was chased by a dog on the way, where Nanami found him up a tree calling for help. She "shoos" the dog away, "saving" his life. As they sit on a bench and talk, Mikage mentions Tomoe's name, which makes Nanami wonder if that is his wife (Because Tomoe is a girl name). After Nanami tells Mikage that she has no home, he tells her that he will give her his, stating that, "It can't be empty forever". He kisses her on the forehead, placing the mark of the land god and making her become the new land god. It is later revealed that Mikage wanted to show Tomoe that humans were not as weak as he thought in the hopes of "retying" his fate to humans, which he thanked Nanami for during the God Summit arc, saying, "I hope Tomoe chooses you". In the end, Mikage puts all his faith in Nanami, believing her to be the only one that can save Tomoe. Tomoe At first, when she came to Mikage shrine, he thought she was Mikage who returned after a twenty year absence and proceeded to attack Nanami, who then shouted she wasn't Mikage. Realizing that it wasn't Mikage who returned after all, he notifies the two shrine spirits, Onikiri and Kotetsu, who disguised themselves as "will-o'-the-wisps" for dramatic effect for his entrance. Once he figures out that Mikage gave her his position as the Land God, Tomoe got mad and ordered Onikiri and Kotetsu to get her out of the shrine (To which they stated that "Mikage has given her his blessing" horrified that he would say such a thing) He then leaves, but comes back and sees Nanami bleed from plucking out the grass. To which he states that she is weak and helpless and that she should go back home, thinking her to be a runaway. Nanami then states that she wasn't the one to run away from home and that it was her dad who did so. Surprising Tomoe, to which he kicks her in the butt with his foot and tells her to stay away from the mirror of the hall. In the beginning of the story, Tomoe acts indifferent towards anything having to do with Nanami. as the story progresses, Tomoe doesn't seem to trust Nanami, and thinks that she will leave like Mikage, resulting in him keeping a close eye on her. Though as the story continues, Nanami shows Tomoe that she won't abandon him. To which he becomes extremely loyal to her, it has been indicated that Tomoe has fallen in love with Nanami as they spend more time together. He constantly compares her to being as weak as a bug, knowing how weak she is as a human compared to his kind and immortal gods, though he thinks of her as a flower that is lovable, pure and awe-inspiring. He ends up having more faith in Nanami as the story goes on, but still can't help to still her as an idiot at times. Tomoe started out not caring at all about Nanami, but eventually becomes quite fond and taken with her kindness and beauty, despite the fact he refuse to admit it, and becomes quite envious with any boy that touches her or spends time with her, besides him, especially if it is a human boy. In recent chapters, Tomoe has realized that the woman he fell in love in the past was never Yukiji, but really Nanami, who is actually the descended of Yukiji and her child. The two are now in a relationship, and are keeping their promises of the past, and now seem to be engaged. Now, it shows Nanami wants to try harder in her school because she does not want to hold Tomoe back. In Ch. 102 the two share a scene under a umbrella, which in Japan is the sigh of Ai Ai Gasa, "Love-Love Umbrella". In Ch. 103, it show that Tomoe does not want to hold back any more and wants to continue where they left off 500 years ago, (Or he was just really drunk and had no clue on what he was doing), which somewhat shocked and scared Nanami, but was saved by a protective Mizuki and an angry Mikage. Mizuki After saving a white snake from being bullied by a couple of classmates, Nanami releases it into the outside, but notices there was an odd red mark on her wrist where she held it. The white snake left an engagement mark on her wrist, created by his saliva. He captures her and keeps her in the Yonomori Shrine where he lived with his former master many years ago. Eventually, Nanami finds it strange she has never seen Yonomori at all. In actuality, the shrine was recreated with Mizuki's power after Yonomori died due to lack of worshipers. Nanami feels bad for Mizuki because he keeps waiting for a master that will never return. She promises to come back and keep him company in the future. Soon after the Dragon king kidnapped Tomoe, Nanami came to the realization that, in order to save Tomoe, she must get back the Dragon King's eye (which Tomoe stole from the Dragon King centuries ago). Accompanied by Mizuki, she visits the sea witch, Isohime who finds the eye in her body, but in the process of removing it, the Isohime tricks her. Instead of taking some of her life force, the witch ends up taking her soul and the dragon eye. However, because of Mizuki, who had decided to become her familiar, Nanami was saved. Mizuki realized that even though without her familiar by her side, and still being just a human, she was still willing to do anything to help those in need. As a sign of respect, Mizuki kissed Nanami, who was knocked out, saying "This is my highest respect. I only bow down to you." Abilities During the beginning of the story, as Nanami is human, she does not bear any supernatural power whatsoever, even though she is the appointed land god. Soon after becoming the land god, she learns how to use talismans and gains the power of purification. As a Master of Tomoe and Mizuki, she also has the ability to have them obey her words when expressed earnestly even if it's against their will, Restraint, a proof of absolute obedience. At the Tengu Mountain when the miasma was there, she was able to get the sakura tree to blossom, but soon after doing so, the tree went back to its original state as a blossom-less tree. Currently, Nanami possesses Mamorinogami's Peach Elixir also called "God's Elixir", after trading some meat buns for it. When someone takes the elixir, it will heal any kind of injury or disease that they have sustained. It was meant to be a farewell gift to Tomoe who had decided to drop his familiar title and become a Yokai. She gave it to him as a gift to protect him, but he didn't accept it and went back on as his duty as her familiar. But she holds on to it for safe keeping. She trades it with the fallen Kappa god in the river so she can meet the fallen god she is looking for. Nanami has a strange power where she can change the point of view of others and make them better people due through her actions and words. This is seen when she shows Tomoe that humans can be strong and not weak creatures as he thought them to be. Nanami also can be moved and changed by people and demons around her as well as learn from them. Like when she saw Mizuki's devotion to his shrine, learning that he was lonely. Himemiko's asking her to be with Kotarou, learning that humans and demons can love each other. Kamehime's (the Dragon king's wife) devotion to her husband and how even though she lost the kimono she was going to give him, she was still happy, even though it happened. *'Talismans:''' Nanami is able to write a word in a talisman and achieve make that word come true, provided you are within your spiritual level. For example, on one occasion wanted Kurama to talk with Ami and wrote 'air' on the talisman and then paste it into the back of the Tengu and just placed it there, was as invisible as air, in fact barely noticed his presence Ami. Trivia *In the manga, when Nanami finds Tomoe at the red light district she slaps him and tells him that he is the one who should go home. In the anime, this does not occur. *Tomoe and Nanami share a few similarities. They both have lost a loved one that they cared for with all their hearts (Tomoe lost Yukiji and Nanami lost her mother), both were abandoned by someone (Tomoe was abandoned by Mikage and Nanami was abandoned by her dad), both have bad tempers, both speak their mind. Both are rebellious and don't behave. *Both Tomoe and Nanami are looked down upon for their rank. Nanami is looked down upon for being a human who has the "Land God" title. Tomoe is looked down upon for being a yokai, but having a "Familiar" title. They are both disliked in their own worlds and in the divine world. *Nanami dislikes shiitake mushrooms. *Nanami likes "cute" things such as small children and babies or cuddle-like animals. *After her mother's death, Nanami had to take on a lot of responsibility, becoming the "woman" of the house. She was left alone much of the time while her dad left to gamble. When Nanami was younger, her mother was always home, but after her mother's death, there was no one home to welcome her back. * Through the story, Nanami is given many titles and is referred to by various different names. "Nanami-sama", translated as the equivalent of "Lady Nanami" in the English sub, is her most famous/and mostly used one. others are "Nanami", "Celestial Maiden/Fairy", "Elder Sister", "Nanami-hime", "Miko" Or "Shrine Maiden," "Human God", "Human Land God", "Land God", "Human", "Nanami-san", "Momozono-san", and "Nanami-Chan" "Dirt-poor Momozono-san" "Dirt-poor girl" "Little Princess" *Nanami tends to love romantic novels. "Beverly Hills Teenage Drama Diaries" is her favorite one. *She likes to "sleep in" on Sundays. If Tomoe would let her, she would sleep in the whole day. *As a child, Nanami had her hair up in short pig tails. But now, as noted by Tomoe, she hardly ever puts her hair up. *To keep her classmates from questioning her high rank, Nanami told Tomoe that if anyone asked she was adopted into his family. Which is kind of true, since Mikage adopted her into becoming the Land God. Due to this, her classmates describe her as a "Girl that had gone through a lot of hardships and has been adopted into a rich family" in this way, she is similar to Yukiji. *Nanami seems to learn through the movements of things, and responds well to competition. She also has a habit of bragging about her ability and talismans. *Kei and Ami are the first human friends Nanami makes. *Nanami get's her beauty and spirit from her mother, but she also gets her father's lack of discipline and his slothfulness, which is seen when she doesn't like waking up on Sundays and how she sleeps. *Nanami is in a Music and English class in school. *As a child, Nanami's dream was to have a big brother. *Nanami has a fear of being useless to Tomoe and is constantly comparing herself to him and others. *Nanami is a popular female Japanese name that can mean multiple things depending on the two kanji used to spell it out."七海" is "seven, sea", "七美" is "seven, beauty", "七実" is "seven, fruit" and "七生" is "seven, life". *Tomoe is Nanami's first love. *In chapter 100 it was revealed that Nanami is a descendant of Yukiji. *Paradoxically, had Nanami given up on Tomoe and left him to die (never time travelling), the past would have been changed and Tomoe never would have fallen for Yukiji and made the contract and been cursed. * Nanami's place of birth is Osaka, Japan. Quotes *"Someday, a day will come when I can smile everyday." *"Just because I wanted a home, I almost destroyed someone else's home." Category:Female characters Category:Gods Category:Humans Category:Characters